Chapter 1680 - 1680: Epilogue 29 - The End of the Beginning (6)

"Do you seriously think I'd agree to something like that?"

I stared at her, completely unimpressed by the proposal she had just thrown at me.

"And I don't consider Lilith my mother. She's simply someone who created my body. That's all she is to me."

I paused for a moment before continuing.

"You shouldn't be calling me your brother either, because I don't consider you my sister."

"Don't be like that," she replied, sounding almost disappointed by my answer.

She looked completely calm despite the fact that I had rejected everything she had just suggested.

"You've fucked Veronica and Elise, so why not me?"

"I don't know what you're thinking," I said while continuing to watch her carefully. "More importantly, why did you suddenly disappear? Where did you go, and what have you been doing all this time?"

Those questions had been bothering me ever since she showed up.

She had vanished for months, and now she was suddenly standing in front of me as if nothing unusual had happened.

"That's not what matters right now, is it?" she said.

A small smile appeared on her face.

She continued smiling as though my questions weren't important enough to deserve an answer.

By that point, she was standing naked in front of me, seemingly without a single concern about the situation or how strange her sudden appearance had become.

"I don't think any of that really matters at all," she said, maintaining that same mysterious smile as she looked directly at me.

I had absolutely no idea what Estelle was thinking at that moment, and honestly, I had no intention of entertaining whatever strange thoughts were currently running through her head. With everything I had learned about her so far, treating her words as something harmless would have been a pretty terrible idea, especially when she had already shown that she was capable of hiding things from me without giving me any obvious indication that she was doing so.

For quite some time, I had been suspicious of her.

I could not say that I had any concrete evidence against her, because that would have made things considerably easier, but there was simply something about Estelle that never sat right with me. I could not figure out what her actual motivation was, and that uncertainty bothered me more than I wanted to admit. Someone who openly declared themselves an enemy was easy enough to understand, while someone who smiled at you while keeping half of their cards hidden was a completely different problem.

Back when Estelle was still attending the academy, I had spent quite a while observing her behavior from a distance. I had been looking for anything that might suggest she was planning something suspicious, but I had never really found anything. She kept a relatively low profile, avoided causing unnecessary trouble, and generally behaved like someone who had absolutely nothing to hide.

That was probably what bothered me the most.

She had been too normal.

During that time, I had not found anything particularly suspicious about her, so I had simply continued keeping an eye on her while staying out of her way. I figured that if she really was hiding something, eventually she would make a mistake. People could only keep up an act for so long before something slipped through the cracks.

But, my feelings had started to change.

I had begun to get the distinct impression that Estelle was not simply keeping an eye on me because of curiosity. She seemed to have an actual reason for watching me, and considering everything I knew about her connection to Lilith, I had a pretty good idea of where that reason might come from.

The obvious explanation was that she was interested in me because I was Lilith's vessel.

Estelle was a fraction of Lilith herself, after all, which meant that the abilities she possessed were connected to one of Lilith's original powers. From that perspective, her interest in me made perfect sense. I was carrying Lilith's power, and she was connected to Lilith, so naturally, she would want to understand what I was capable of.

That alone would have been enough of an explanation.

Unfortunately, I had the feeling that it was not the whole story.

Something about her behavior suggested there was another reason behind it, something that she was deliberately keeping away from me. I could not prove it yet, but my instincts had been warning me about her for too long for me to simply ignore them.

"Do you honestly have to doubt me like that?" Estelle suddenly asked.

Her expression shifted into something almost sulky, although I was not entirely convinced that she was actually upset. With Estelle, it was difficult to tell where her genuine emotions ended and her performance began.

"You know, I am pretty bummed out because of you," she continued. "I mean, you are out there enjoying pussies left and right, fucking them and conquering them, yet somehow you keep leaving me out of all of it. Seriously, why? I do not think the fact that I am a part of Lilith bothers you that much. If it really did, then you would not have fucked Veronica and Elise, because they are both connected to Lilith just like I am."

She paused for a moment before continuing, apparently taking the time to inspect herself as though she were genuinely trying to figure out what mysterious flaw I had discovered.

"Is it my personality?" she asked. "I have actually been trying to look cute for you, you know? I have been putting in effort here, so I would appreciate knowing what exactly you do not like about me. Is it because I am your sister? I don't think you mind incest that much since you've fucked Veronica and Estelle. Am I missing something obvious? Because I have been thinking about it, and I honestly cannot figure out what the problem is."

She placed one hand against her breast while giving me an almost exaggeratedly thoughtful expression.

"Ah, I get it," she said. "Is it because my breasts are not that big? Lilith designed me like this, so I did not exactly get a vote when it came to the final specifications."

I stared at her for a moment.

Of all the things she could have brought up, that was somehow the direction she decided to take the conversation.

"I do not really care about any of that," I said.

Estelle raised an eyebrow.

"I mean it," I continued. "Your appearance, your breasts, your personality, or whatever else you think might be the problem are not the reason. I simply do not think I would want to have sex with you."

Her expression became slightly more serious.

"I also have no intention of helping Lilith revive."

"What?" Estelle asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "But that is your destiny."

She looked at me as though I had just said something incredibly unreasonable.

"Do you honestly think you have a chance against the Dragons that are coming for this world?" she continued. "Do you really believe there will even be a chance for you to accomplish anything against them? The Great Darkness that you fought was nothing more than a lower dragon on the food chain, and you still only barely managed to defeat him. That should tell you something about the difference in power between you and the dragons that are actually above him."

I remained silent.

Estelle continued speaking, her voice becoming more serious as she laid out her argument.

"It will not matter how determined you are when you face the others," she said. "If you truly want to save the people of this world, along with your loved ones and your children, then you need more power. Have sex with me, conquer me, and then we can revive Lilith together. Once she returns, you will have the strength you need to protect everyone."

I did not want to take her seriously.

Everything she was saying sounded like a carefully prepared collection of buzzwords designed specifically to get inside my head. She was taking the things I cared about most and putting them in front of me as reasons why I should accept her proposal.

She was basically putting a giant emotional button in front of me and asking me to press it.

I was not going to fall for that.

I had already fought against impossible odds before, and I had survived situations that should have killed me. I was not about to suddenly decide that I was incapable of protecting this world simply because Estelle told me that I needed Lilith to do it.

Still, her words had managed to make me hesitate for a moment.

That hesitation immediately irritated me.

She was planting a seed of doubt inside my head.

That was all this was.

She wanted me to question whether I was strong enough. She wanted me to start thinking about what would happen if I failed, and once those thoughts took root, she could use them to push me toward the choice she wanted.

I refused to give her that satisfaction.

"I will be able to do it," I said firmly. "I will protect this world without Lilith's help."